The world’s best tech companies are also the hardest to get into. Thousands of hopefuls apply for every position that’s available, and candidates must have stellar resumes to be noticed by recruiters. Candidates must have relevant experience, and impress existing employees through interview processes that can span months. But at the end of this all, it turns out these employees don’t stay at these top companies for very long.
Employees at world’s top tech companies don’t even stay on for two years before moving on to other jobs, a study by Paysa has has found. Among the companies surveyed, employees stayed on the longest at Facebook — they remain in their jobs for 2.02 years before moving on. Google’s employees stick with them on average for 1.90 years, and Uber, which has had some concerns over work culture, can only retain employees for 1.23 years — less than a year and three months.
Younger startups seem to have greater churn than bigger companies. At Apple, employees stay on for 1.85 years, at Oracle, they stay for 1.89 years. In comparison, startups seem to be able to retain their employees for smaller periods — Airbnb employees stay with the company for just 1.66 years, Snap’s for 1.62 years, and Uber’s for 1.23 years.
Rapid job switches can make sense for employees working at top companies. With a top company name on their resume, they’re in high demand everywhere else. And quick job switches can mean they can negotiate better pays — a study by Forbes found that employees who stay at a job for longer than two years end up earning 50% less over a lifetime than their peers who switch every 2 years. And top software engineers aren’t exactly wedded to companies they’re at — they’re now online mercenaries, willing to go wherever their talents are the most valued.